Milan Kundera
Milan Kundera
Milan Kunderais a Czech-born writer who went into exile in France in 1975, and became a naturalised French citizen in 1981. He "sees himself as a French writer and insists his work should be studied as French literature and classified as such in book stores"...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth1 April 1929
ideas empires unbearable
loves are like empires: when the idea they are founded on crumbles, they, too, fade away.
past people political
People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past.
inspirational heart mind
When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object.
laughter domes temples
The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness.
strength memories struggle
The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
perfect want unbearable-lightness-of-being
We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.
love sleep passion
Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).
memories doe film
Memory does not make films, it makes photographs.
lying people ability
The worth of a human being lies in the ability to extend oneself, to go outside oneself, to exist in and for other people.
people liberty world
The worst thing is not that the world is unfree, but that people have unlearned their liberty.
people stupidity answers
The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.
thinking mind world
I understand you, and I shall not attempt to make you change your mind. I am too old to want to improve the world. I have told you what I think, and that is all. I shall remain your friend even if you act contrary to my convictions, and I shall help you even if I disagree with you.
writing
But isn't it true that an author can write only about himself?
optimistic optimism people
Optimism is the opium of the people.